You wouldn’t have handed it over without putting up one hell of a fight. Is that how you got injured and wound up in the hospital?”
“See, Ledge?” he said, winking. “You’re not the only one with an alibi. In the wee hours, I was being treated in the ER.”
“Hospital records will be tough to dispute.”
“Oh, I can do better than hospital records.” He rolled his chair over to its rightful place behind his desk and resumed the complacent position he’d been in when Ledge arrived. Except this time, he stacked his hands on the top of his head. “You want to know who can vouch for my whereabouts that night?” He snickered, his smile sly and provocative. “Ask your girlfriend Crystal.”
Chapter 12
Lisa’s assistant knocked once on her office door, then pushed it open. “I know you asked not to be disturbed.”
Lisa, who’d been reading over the previous quarter’s financial report, removed her reading glasses and, with an edge, said, “What is it?”
“Your sister.”
“What about her?”
“I’m here.” Arden stepped around the assistant and entered the office.
Lisa dropped her eyeglasses onto the desk and came to her feet. “What in the world are you doing here?”
“Can you spare me a few minutes?”
“Of course.” Lisa came from around her desk and gave her a warm hug. “I’m delighted to see you, but surprised. Did you make the drive this morning? You must have left Penton awfully early.”
“Even the drive-through at the bakery wasn’t open yet.”
“And after you had such a late night. Were you able to get any sleep? Do you want coffee?”
“In answer to the first question, not much. No thank you on the coffee. I stopped a couple of times along the way.”
Lisa said to her assistant, “Everything is on hold until further notice.”
“You have a meeting at—”
“Move it back an hour.”
“If someone’s schedule doesn’t allow for the change?”
“Then they’re to rearrange their schedule to allow it.”
“Yes, Ms. Bishop.” The woman, seemingly accustomed to Lisa’s directives, smiled at Arden, then withdrew and pulled the door closed.
Lisa took Arden’s hand and led her to a seating area in a corner of her expansive office. The Bishop Group occupied the two top floors of a glassy contemporary high-rise, which Lisa’s late husband had developed. The glitzy skyline of downtown Dallas was on full display outside the wall of windows.
Inside, the office was exquisitely furnished and decorated with treasures from around the world, which Lisa and her late husband had acquired on their frequent trips abroad.
As Arden took her seat, she said, “I know you’re busy, so I’ll be as brief as possible. But I didn’t want this to keep any longer, and I didn’t want to tell you over the phone.”
“You look upset.”
“Apprehensive.”
“All right, apprehensive. Is this about Ledge Burnet? You told him he won’t be working for you, and he didn’t take it well?”
Arden still felt the imprint of his lips on hers. The pressure points where his large body had aligned with hers quickened with the memory. “No. That call to him is pending. But I do need to tell you something troubling that I should have shared weeks ago. Months, actually.”
They had taken adjacent chairs. Lisa reached across the space separating them and clasped both Arden’s hands in hers. “You’re scaring me.”
“It’s not that scary. Just—”
“Tell me, Arden.”
She took a steadying breath and told Lisa about her nightly drive-by. As she talked, she watched Lisa pale, the color literally draining from her face. But to her sister’s credit, she didn’t interrupt. By the time Arden had finished, Lisa was visibly shaken.
“Someone’s been stalking you, and you didn’t tell me?”
“It’s not exactly stalking.”
“What would you call it?”
“I don’t know, but not stalking. I haven’t seen the person, so I don’t even know that it’s a man. It could be a woman.”
“Whoever it is, he, she is spying on you.”
“Monitoring.”
“There’s a negligible difference between the words I’m using and the ones you’re substituting. When did you become aware of the spying?”
“Shortly after I moved back.”
“Good God, Arden. I cannot believe you’re just now telling me.”
“Please don’t lecture me about my timing. You were already dead set against my moving into the house, I didn’t need you harping over another issue. Besides, I didn’t want to add to your worry.”
“Well, I’m worried now.”
A quarrel over semantics, or anything else, would be contrary to why she’d come seeking Lisa’s opinion and counsel, so she took a moment to let them both cool down before resuming.
“At first I thought that our property was on someone’s